Frustrated Lewis Pair Pedagogy: Expanding Core Undergraduate Curriculum and Reinforcing Fundamental Thermodynamic Concepts

Abstract

For over a decade, the Frustrated Lewis Pair (FLP) concept has helped to extend the frontiers of maingroup chemistry. The present-day maturity of the field, coupled with recent research developments highlighting the continuity between FLP chemistry and classical Lewis acid-base chemistry, suggest that FLP chemistry should be introduced into the mainstream undergraduate chemistry curriculum. Herein is described the experience of a pilot project to incorporate FLP chemistry into the undergraduate maingroup inorganic chemistry course at the University of California, Santa Cruz. The presentation of the material, which stresses the thermodynamics-based continuity that links classical Lewis acid-base chemistry and FLP chemistry, also suggested that coverage of the FLP material might provide a means of solidifying fundamental concepts from chemical thermodynamics from earlier courses. Preliminary quantitative and qualitative data have been acquired that support this hypothesis.